title: [Proposals to clarify the term "network" applied in the field of the health sector].
abstract: In many technical domains the term "network" is well defined in terms of structures and functions. This is not the case in the social and health sectors where numbers of groupings called themselves networks, suggesting a certain level of interactions, lots of independence, even a will to escape a more restrictive outline-law (foundation, association, federation). However that might be, the concept seems to embrace several dimensions: actors, structures and types of interactions. We would like to bring here a few thoughts aiming to reach a more precise definition, and in particular to formulate some conditions in order to enable the distinction between "network" and others types of functional structures.
authors.affiliation: Institut de médecine sociale et préventive, Département de santé et médecine communautaire, Faculté de médecine de Genève. sandrine.motamed@hcuge.ch
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Motamed
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rougemont
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019981:Health Care Sector / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009626:Terminology as Topic